70 THE CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS 



afflicting to see discoveries of indisputable 

 value buried out of view, submerged in public 

 libraries, utterly unknown and forgotten, like 

 their authors, to such a degree, that the dis- 

 temper which they have made known in its 

 entirety, and which is as old as the world 

 itself, seems to us almost new in 1865 ? 



God send, that these cruel trials and severe 

 lessons which the past has bequeathed to us 

 may teach us something for our benefit ! May 

 the irresistible might which is derived from 

 the auspicious union of capital and intelligence 

 supersede the vain and flimsy efforts of isolated 

 energy ! May the government, which lavishes 

 hundreds of millions upon the destructive 

 engines of war, devote some portion of its 

 ample means to the study of hereditary infec- 

 tions and contagious diseases ! For these fatal 

 epidemics decimate men as well as cattle, and 

 we may at least ward off from our children the 

 desolating disease which at present afflicts our- 

 selves. 



We possess already every requisite means to 

 protect ourselves from the formidable visita- 

 tion of these diseases : we have science ; we 

 have the men who cultivate and teach it ; we 



